The Wrap - Aint No Second Prize

1. Melbourne Storm. Six minor premierships in 14 years. Incredible. What a club and success story from its early years. I vividly remember sneaking into the post match with about 20 other blokes to be part of their early culture build post game.

Superb recruitment and development. Craig Bellamy is surely the best ever coach...but has not done it at Origin level, like Wayne Bennett. They keep powering on and players are queuing up to stay there for less money. A luxury problem.

Fascinating penalty against the Dolphins' Bostock throwing the ball away and wasting time. About time. Hand the ball over or lose metres. 

What a dreadful loss by Manly v the Tigers! Honestly, that was their worst effort (and refereeing) for a long while - and at the worst possible time. They were semi final definites with a win. Business time now at the top of the table. 

2. NRL Premiership. St George have had a great year under Shane Flanagan. Saints have a dreadful for and against however and the Broncos loom large. St George's effort v the Sharks was ordinary. Parramatta might be a chance to finish them next week. Sloan is a super talent, but he makes some big errors at clutch times. 

The Spoon Bowl' - Eels v Tigers. Tigers should win comfortably. Parramatta are truly appalling. They should have beat Penrith leaking late points, they get a 16-0 lead v the Broncos. They are seasoned losers sadly. They have lost SEVEN games by eight points or less in 2024. That is attitude.

That whole roster needs refreshing with a bit of pace in it. Penesini has gone backwards, Russell awful and they lack imagination. I am not sure what they do about Dylan Brown as well. He lacks size and seems to have dropped off his pace as well. The whole club cannot crash down when Moses is out. They have injuries, but who doesn't?

Trent Barrett also sadly is consigned to the same NRL coaching dustbin that Paul Langmack, Peter Sharp, Ivan Henjak, Ken Shine, Anthony Griffin, Matthew Elliott and a few others inhabit. Why the Broncos want him is hard to fathom on his past form...although he was at Penrith for a time too. Nice bloke who you would enjoy having as a neighbour. NRL coach?...mmmmm.

3. AFL. An 'early' end of sorts to their comp, but Swans are minor premiers. They still look shaky at times, brilliant at others. Bringing back a few from the injured list (esp. Papley) will be immense for them. Richmond get the spoon and they need an overhaul. Not sure we have seen the end of Dustin Martin. 

North Melbourne were appalling on the weekend. Not a lot of growth there under Clarkson. Hawthorn have been the big improvers this year. St Kilda do Freo the world's biggest favour and they fall over... don't deserve to make the semi finals on that. Carlton could be damaging. The Western Bulldogs will be the surprise packet. Caleb Daniel makes a big difference to their play. Finally he is back and regular.

4. Test Cricket. England are chalking up the Test cricket series wins at present...v West Indies and now 1-0 up v Sri Lanka. They lost to India, drew with Australia, drew with India before the current run. Some world championship insurance here now. Root cashing in with Stokes injured. Their new keeper Jamie Smith looks promising (especially with the bat).

5. BMW Championship Golf. Adam Scott absolutely blitzed them in the second round with a 63 (then fell away to trail by one shot). Pretty impressive for an ageing warrior who famously won the 2013 US Masters, but who has not won on the tour since 2020. Bradley and Ludvig stand in front of him for the win! Can he do it?

6. EPL. Manchester City are immense. Erling Haaland is one of the legends. Another hattrick overnight. He will lead Man City to yet another title. The coach Pep Guardolia is something else too. ManU are stuttering already. 

Man City? Winners in 2017-18, 2018-19, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 winners. SIX titles in seven seasons (Liverpool under Klopp won in 2019-20 and Man City came second). Incredible.

7. F1 - Piastri. Looking for a podium finish in the Dutch GP. He sits fourth with one win and four podiums for McLaren. He could leap into second spot with a top finish. Pretty impressive. Meanwhile Daniel Riccardo is struggling away... car issues, management issues, contract issues... 

The Wrap - Hall of Spoons

1. NRL. Cronulla always seem to get out of jail at Shark Park. A great effort. Knights, Raiders, Dolphins and Broncos all look done now. Saints may sneak in! The Bulldogs have excelled. They are really nailing their defence and are potent in attack too. Speed to burn. It wins comps. The Cleary injury was unfortunate, but how good is that team. Reinventing every year as personnel changes.

2. NRL Wooden Spoons. Unfortunately, Parramatta deserve this again. Their efforts in defence are hideous and the Tigers look to make a greater effort more consistently. Parramatta turn it up when it is all a bit hard.

• The run home: Parramatta v Broncos, Dragons, Tigers.
• The run home: Tigers v Manly, Bye, Parramatta.

Parra are looking to add to their 14 Wooden Spoons. The Tigers have (18 - Wests Magpies; 4 - Balmain; 2 - Wests Tigers).

The recipients should be made to collect a giant wooden spoon at the NRL Grand Final.

2. NRL Hall of Fame. It is a crowded hall. The Les Boyd inclusion is curious...not a premiership win, not a World Cup win, not a Dally M Medal - not even a National Panasonic Cup title. He was on the 1978 Kangaroo Tour and then was MOTM in the Super League Final in 1985-86. That's it. Won a few spoons and moved to Manly and didn't win a comp there. Brohman does need to get over it 40 years on, but Les as tough as he was, does not seem to fit the bill of most others in that hall. Anyhow, he doesn't choose himself.

3. EPL. Underway again after the shortest ever off season. The intensity of this competition is the rival of the world - in all sports. Every week a massive event in multiple towns. Incredible.

4. AFL. The Swans have scrapped and scraped and strung two wins back to back to take the minor premiership. Carlton and Collingwood on a knife edge to make the eight. A misery of a year for Gold Coast and the other regular losers, Essendon, St Kilda, Adelaide... Melbourne were not great in 2023 either. Their premiership window closes.

5. Black Caviar. Just on 18 Years old, 9 foals and now gone. Despite the foals, the likes of Black Caviar will never be seen again. 25 starts - 25 wins. Awesome! The owners have done well there.

6. Rugby Union. The Wallabies are still a mile off the pace. Sad, but true. It is amazing how much a country can slip so significantly. Eddie Jones has a fair bit to answer for...as has his predecessors!

7. Sports - Social Media. Incredible how addicted sports stars are to social media...Olympians the lot. If you are not on it, you don't read the sewer that is social media. Stay away and live a happy life. The sadness of the Latrell Mitchell case is like so many others before him, their "friends" are not really friends at all. If Souths cut him there would be ten clubs wanting him tomorrow.

The Wrap - Olympic Tug of War

1. Olympics. So many excellent athletes and what a result from Australia? 50+ medals makes us the world powerhouse for the number of medals v the number of athletes/ population we have. Per capita it is quite incredible. Especially when we can beat the host nation in different events too. Host nations invest heavily in their athletes and often shine brightly.

By the way we were pipped by the Japanese today and missed out on an overall podium finish (a familiar tale in recent days!).

Kaylee McKeown is a deserved flag bearer choice. Matt Wearn has done well too with two gold medals back to back, so a great tribute to both.

The Australian women water polo team - 'The Stingers' (great name), really excelled. However, our basketballers always seem to struggle on that stage. The Opals snagged a late bronze which is a great effort...the men? Like so many events...a disappointment.

Jess Hull in the 1500m was a superb highlight this weekend. Coming into the event, she was in awesome form (fastest 2000m time ever by a woman!), but to win a silver medal in an Olympics 1500m is some sort of effort. What about the Kenyan winner... Faith Kipyegon. Unbeaten since 2021 in the 1500m and now three gold in three successive Olympics - like Usain Bolt. No doubt our exposure to the US college system and their training and focus is making a huge impact.

The Men's 100m? Trash talking Olympians are in the lowest category. They should be banned. It is the one time you like to see friendship on the podium. Hull exemplified that Olympic spirit.

2. AFL. How close are some of the games these days? The effort after the siren by Mac Andrew (Gold Coast)  v Essendon was exceptional for a one point win. West Coast won by five against North Melbourne. The Swans beat Collingwood by a handful... The Swans lack a bit of height in key positions and rigour in defence. Lots of small quick runners now when speed was an issue...now it is height.

An awful loss by the Western Bulldogs v Adelaide. After such a great run...misery when success mattered most.

3. Ricky Stuart. Ricky has unloaded as he usually does after a loss. Refs are confusing players, now apparently resulting in 40 point losses. They are terrible. The refs should front press conferences and tell us how ill disciplined some teams and their coaching styles are as well.

4. NRL. The Bulldogs have really improved. Interesting seeing the same defensive structures as Penrith. This Ciraldo can coach! He is very composed and sensible. NO excuses either. The Parramatta capitulation was something else. They simply cannot defend their own line... Panthers or no Panthers. An abysmal season where their whole roster looks like being upended, including Mitchell Moses. Save us from another media saga there please!

5. Rugby. Springboks demolish the Wallabies. We are still a mile behind, despite beating Georgia (eventually) and the lowly current Wales team. Argentina beating the All Blacks 38-30 was a shock however. They are really improving as a nation and would topple Australia for fun. A good weekend for no breakdancing by the coach.

6. Breakdancing. I would back the All Blacks coach, Scott Robertson to win something, even the argument over whether it should be an Olympic sport. I remember seeing the press conference before they left, thinking they were very different breakdancing moves to those seen on the New York subway. The performances there are a bit strange, but rock climbing as an Olympic sport is too. 

The inclusion of a number of Olympic sports gets the head shaking. BMX racing and Taekwondo raised eyebrows. Clever and all, but hard to get excited about. Do we really need golf and tennis there? Ten pin bowling has missed out for years. Darts could be ready to make a claim?

Perhaps it's time to bring back 'Tug of War', which was an Olympic event many years ago. Plenty of the viewers could relate to the rope burn from an old athletics carnival or two on dud surfaces with incorrect footwear and some massive kid coming into his or her own as the anchor (after folding in the mandatory 100m race!).

Totem Tennis should be considered as well. Also 'British Bulldog' and 'Run Across'... Then look closely at french cricket, elastics, marbles, hand ball, matchbox footy, footy card flicks and "forcings back" with the footy.

Nice to read of the 'League Olympics' destined to make a comeback soon on Grand Final Day.

The Wrap - Gold Teeth and Tonsils

1. Olympics. Kaylee McKeown wins the back to back double of 100m and 200m backstroke at two successive Olympic Games (first Australian swimmer ever) and is now our most successful Olympian in individual events, winning four medals  - all genders, all sports, all time! She is actually unbeaten in both events at major world cup and short course world cup meets since 2020. She has five gold medals (one relay). Absolutely awesome. Jess Fox has three individual gold medals so far and a chance to get one more in Paris too!

Emma McKeon (no relation), has six medals (two individual and four relays). McKeon has 20 Commonwealth Games (14 gold) as well! The relays can be quite the medal accumulator.

When you think we are doing well, consider this: Michael Phelps first represented in Sydney 2000 and did not win a medal. Then he won 23 Olympic gold medals (28 in all) from 2004-2008-2012-2016 

Ian Thorpe was a great swimmer and ambassador, but commentary is not his strength. A little more passion in the voice could assist. Phil Leggatt is 81 years old and still calling the cycling with the golden dulcet tones. Awesome!

2. Olympics - Heartbreak and Ecstacy. Is the disqualification of a 100m runner for breaking the most brutal rule in world sport? No margin for error.

Only one rowing medal won't be good when Australian Olympic funding is cut up next time. Disappointing and usually such a strength. They will be counting canoeing. Jess Fox is a legend. She also has three individual Olympic medals...possibly four soon to join the greatest ever!

Interesting how we learn so much at the Olympics. Windsurfing...who would have thought!

Cameron McEvoy in the 50m swimming was awesome. Our Men's team generally is not what it once was...(Perkins, Hackett, Thorpe, Klim, Heugill). The women continue to dominate.

Super win by John Peers and Matt Ebden in the men's doubles in the tennis. Steel.

3. Swans. Has there been a greater stumble in recent years than this present one? A loss by over 100 points is a capitulation to Port Adelaide. They really lack big bodies in defence. Blakey is simply not big enough. They lack physicality and attitude too. It is like a cancer in their ranks which has been seen on GF Day twice. This was always the danger - as it was in the Grand Final losses. Terrible starts plague them!

Pendlebury 400 games. Amazing with only six players have cracked 400 (Harvey 432; Tuck, 426; Burgoyne 407; Bartlett 403; Fletcher 400). Pendlebury gets to third place if the Pies make the finals. A big 'if' really.

4. NRL- St George. What a top win v the Storm...18-16! So hard to do but Shane Flanagan can coach. He has resurrected the St George juggernaut from extinction.

A funny weekend. Parramatta won and the Storm lost. That does not sound right. The Titans are screaming back under Des. He has done a great job there too and could be semi finals bound after a woeful start to the season. The Broncos? Kevin Walters may be gone soon I suspect.

5. Cricket. Funny how ODIs and T20s roll on and no one cares - especially when the Olympics are on. India v Sri Lanka. I thought Kohli and Rohit retired, yet both were playing.

6. Adelaide Thunderbirds. They win back to back Super netball titles v Melbourne Vixens. A huge result. Once again the back to back ability of the best teams is quite staggeringly familiar.